It was past midnight. Deep darkness and heavy silence lay upon Thebes,broken only by dogs howling at the stars and the occasional challengeof soldiers on the walls. Side by side in their golden bed the weariedPharaoh and his queen slept heavily. Presently Ahura woke. She startedup in the bed; she stared at the darkness about her with frightenedeyes; she stretched out her hand and clasping Pharaoh by the arm,whispered in a thrilling voice,
"Awake, awake! I have that which I must tell you."
Pharaoh roused himself, for there was something in Ahura's voice whichswept away the veils of sleep.
"What has chanced, Ahura?" he asked.
"O Pharaoh, I have dreamed a dream, if indeed it were but a dream. Itseemed to me that the darkness opened, and that standing in the darknessI saw a Glory which had neither shape nor form. Yet a voice spoke fromthe Glory, a low, sweet voice: 'Queen Ahura, my daughter,' it said, 'Iam that Spirit to whom thou and thy husband did pray this night inthe sanctuary of my temple. It seemed to both of you that your prayersremained unheard, yet it was not so, as my priest knew well. QueenAhura, thou and Pharaoh thy husband have put your trust in me these manyyears, and not in vain. A daughter shall be given to thee and Pharaoh,and my Spirit shall be in that child. She shall be beautiful andglorious as no woman was before her, for I clothe her with health andpower and wisdom. She shall rule over the Northern and the SouthernLands; yea, for many years the double crown shall rest upon her brow,and no king that went before her, and no king that follows after her,shall be more great in Egypt. Troubles and dangers shall threaten her,but the Spirit that I give to her shall protect her in them all, and sheshall tread her enemy beneath her feet. A royal lover shall come to heralso, and she shall rejoice in his love and from it shall spring manykings and princes. Neter-Tua, Morning Star, shall be her name, andhigh-priestess of Amen--no less--shall be her office, for she is mychild whom I have taken from heaven and sent down to earth; the childthat I have given to Pharaoh and to thee, and I love her and appoint thegood goddesses to be her companions, and command Osiris to receive herat the last.
"'Behold, in token of these things I lay my symbol on thy breast, and onher breast also shall that symbol be. When I lift it from thee and thoudost open thy eyes, then awaken Pharaoh at thy side and let these mywords be written in a roll, so that none of them are forgotten.'
"Then, O Pharaoh," went on Ahura, "from the Glory there came forth ahand, and in the hand was the Symbol of Life shining as though withfire, and the hand laid it upon my breast and it burned me as thoughwith fire, and I awoke and lo! darkness was all about me, nothing butdarkness, and at my side I heard you sleeping."
Now when Pharaoh had listened to this dream, he kissed the queen andblessed her because of its good omen, and clapped his hands to summonthe women of honour who slept without. They ran in bearing lights, andby the lights he saw that beneath the throat of the Queen upon her fairskin, appeared a red mark, and the shape of it was the shape of the Signof Life; yes, there was the loop, and beneath the loop the cross.
Then Pharaoh commanded that the chief of his scribes should come to himwith papyrus and writing tools, and that the high-priest of Amenshould be brought swiftly from the temple. So the scribe came to thebed-chamber of the King, and in the presence of the high-priest allthe words of Amen were written down, not one of them was omitted, andPharaoh and the Queen signed the roll, and the high-priest witnessedit and, copies having been made, bore it away to hide it in the secrettreasury of Amen. But the mark of the Cross of Life remained upon thebreast of the Queen Ahura till the day that she died.
Morning Star Page 5
